


Tesoro

by MadJJ



Series: Starkinelli Shorts [4]
Category: Agent Carter (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Denial of Feelings, F/M, Fluff, Freudian Slip, Matchmaker Peggy Carter, Pining, Vulnerable Howard Stark, short and fluffy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-20
Updated: 2019-10-27
Packaged: 2020-12-24 19:10:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21104564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadJJ/pseuds/MadJJ
Summary: Angie doesn't like Howard Stark. Freudian slips don't mean anything.





	1. The Slip

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not speak Italian.

Angie hung her coat and took off her hat. It was freezing outside. Winter had come early this year, she was hoping for a white Christmas.

“English, I’m home!” she called out while marching further down the hall.

Peggy’s coat was hanging next to hers, so she knew her roommate must have been home. She was surprised to hear a masculine voice in the living room – the one where they greeted guests (they had more than one living room because the place so huge you could get lost in it) – because she hadn’t seen another coat at the entrance.

The person there must have only been swinging by -

The door of the living room opened before she had the time to put her hand on the handle, startling her, and revealed her least favorite billionaire.

“Why hello Angel, didn’t think you’d be home so soon – I was afraid I’d miss you!” greeted Howard with his usual nickname for her.

She had never approved of him giving her a nickname, but he always did whatever he wanted.

“Oh. Stark. Didn’t expect to see you either,” she barely hid her dissatisfaction at seeing him.

He was a relentless flirt. She might have been flattered, but she had had enough flirting as a waitress back when she still worked at the Automat, then had had to endure some more after her actress career had finally started taking off, so it all sounded disingenuous to her. It was already the case with everyone else, but with Howard it was only made worse by his reputation as a serial seducer.

Howard took her hand to kiss it, as he always did, and Angie rolled her eyes. She supposed it wasn’t too bad. Her hands were cold because she had forgotten to wear gloves outside and his skin warmed hers.

“Howard was just on his way out,” Peggy announced behind him, observing the scene with crossed arms.

She had a smirk tucked at the corner of her lips. It amused her to no end to see Howard flail and make a fool of himself around Angie.

“But I could stay a little longer if you want me to,” he wiggled his eyebrows at Angie.

It made his face look funny, and Angie had to bite back a laugh.

“No, it’s fine. Wouldn’t want you to waste time here for no reason.”

“No time is wasted in your presence, Angel, you’re the only reason I’d need to say here forever!” he declared with flourish. “But I can tell when I’m not wanted, so I’ll leave you two ladies for the night!”

Howard headed out. He still had his coat under his arm, Angie noticed, which was why she hadn’t suspected his presence in the first place.

Howard had his hand over the handle of the front door, ready to leave.

_He’s going to be very cold if he doesn’t put his coat on before leaving_, Angie thought.

“Cover yourself up before you get out, tesoro,” she called out before he opened the door.

She froze. Did that word really leave her mouth?

“Oh, you’re right,” he muttered, putting his coat on as if he hadn’t heard the last part of what she had said.

Angie didn’t move an inch, still too shocked by the involuntary slip, even once he had gone outside and closed the front door.

“Angie? Are you all right?”

“Uh, yeah, sure, I’m fine!” she turned around to face Peggy, who still had the hint of a smirk clinging to the corner of her lips.

“What was it you just sai-”

“I’ve had a long day,” Angie rapidly explained, passing her friend without listening to the rest of her question. “The director asked us to do the same take fifty takes in a row with no breaks, so I’ll just head out to bed,” she continued as she started climbing the stairs to the second floor where their respective rooms were.

“Bed? At this hour?”

“I’m really tired!” yelled Angie from the top of the stairs.

“What about dinner?” Peggy had to scream to be heard.

“Not hungry!” came Angie’s voice, muffled by the distance then quickly followed by the sound of her door closing.

Peggy tilted her head, in thoughts. Then, she headed towards the library they had in the right wing.

She thought she might have to thank Howard again for giving them this house. It was a very, very nice house, and they had been there for quite a while, yet Howard hadn’t tried to convince them to move out once._ Next time I see him_, she thought as she perused the bookshelves.


	2. The Pining

“Chester has agreed to most of those terms, but we still have to obtain approval from some members of the congress,” explained Howard, his expression grave.

Peggy nodded, perusing the stack of papers in front of them. The founding of SHIELD was going more smoothly than she had anticipated, but they still had to iron out some details. Howard was keeping her upgraded frequently – in person. This wasn’t the kind of matter to be discussed over the phone, not when you were forming a whole new extra-governmental agency. Despite its goal to be working outside of the American government's influence, you couldn’t just forgo all political consequences such an organization could provoke. Since it was going to be located in the United States, at least at first, ensuring that there would be no problems with the local government.

“We still lack infrastructures for now,” Howard continued, pulling out the plans for buildings he had been working on, “but I wanted to get you opinion on -”

He was interrupted by the sound of the front door opening. The howls of the wind resonated all through the corridor and reached the office they were standing in, despite its location at the very end of the right wing of the manor.

Instantly, Howard lost all of his concentration.

“Didn’t think Angel would come home so soon,” he smiled broadly.

Peggy rubbed her forehead. At first she had been worried by Howard’s attentions for her roommate, but as time went by she had started to see them as somewhat endearing. She expected him to lose interest after a few days, but he was still invested, even if it had been several months since their meeting.

Unfortunately, it meant that any chance they had of finishing this meeting in the half-hour as they had planned was ruined. There was no way she could reign his attention back to their discussion if there was an opportunity for him to go flirt with Angie.

As she predicted, he was already leaving the room. She followed him into the corridor.

“I think she said it was their last day of filming today,” she explained, considering whether she should ask him back in the room or just save her energy.

At the end of the corridor, Angie’s figure appeared and disappeared just as quickly up the staircase.

Howard stopped in his steps.

“She didn’t even called hello to you,” he said, deflated.

“Maybe she saw your coat in the entrance and wanted to avoid you,” joked Peggy.

Howard turned around, heading back inside the office. Upon seeing his expression, she regretted her jape.

“She had been avoiding me, those last few days,” he said, worried. “I thought she didn’t mind me – did I do something to upset her?”

Peggy was speechless for a second. She wasn’t used to Howard caring about other people’s feelings towards him. Neither was she used to him looking so… vulnerable.

“I don’t think so, she told me she was really tired as of late, they’ve had to work hard to finish her latest movie in time,” she explained.

And while that was true, she suspected that there might have been something more behind Angie’s strange behavior. She didn’t want to alarm Howard though, it really wasn’t his fault.

“She’s a great actress,” he brightened up slightly, “she works hard, you’re right.”

Howard was an avid fan of Angie’s work – he’d even tried to convince her to work with him to make a movie, despite progressively losing interest in directing other movies after _Kid Colt_. He had been more concerned with the creation of SHIELD, but still made sure to see any movie that Angie starred in.

Peggy suspected he had even acquired some of them to view in his own home where he had a whole set up with a movie projector, like in the theater. He had tried several times, and unsuccessfully, to invite Angie visit his ‘home movie theater’. Peggy still wasn’t sure if that was a double entendre or not.

“You really like her, don’t you?” inquired Peggy, closing the door behind them.

He looked at her with a perplexed expression.

“Of course, why’d you think I didn’t?”

“I haven’t seen you trying to woo another woman beyond a few flirtatious quips in months,” she continued.

“Well, I have been busy -” he admitted.

“And you always ask me how she’s doing when you haven’t seen her in a while.”

Howard sighed, then rubbed the back of his head.

“Yes, that’s all true. But last time, she said something – I didn’t understand it, I think it was Italian -”

Howard avoided her eyes, clearly frustrated.

“Didn’t you check what it meant?”

“I forgot what she said.”

“You have a perfect memory.”

“Okay, I remember, I’m just afraid it’s an insult or something, all right?”

He sighed, again, then finally met her eyes.

“Where are you going with this line of questioning, Peg?”

Peggy mused for a few seconds, her eyes on the bookshelves behind him. She nodded to herself, having reached a conclusion, then changed the subject:

“What about the plans you wanted to show me?”

Howard sighed, knowing full well she wouldn’t explain the reasons for her questions, and did his best to focus back on the task at hand.

His mind almost didn’t wander back to the Angel resting above their heads for the rest of their meeting.


	3. The Denial

Despite the harsh cold, Angie came inside slowly, scanning the corridor for any wild geniuses that could have wandered in. Only one coat hanging at the wall. A good sign.

“Hello, Angie.”

Angie was so startled that her whole body jumped and shook upon hearing her roommate’s voice.

“Jeez, English, you scared me!”

She pushed the door close behind her. No sign of Stark so far, and if Peggy was standing there, there was a good, strong chance that he wasn’t anywhere else in the manor either.

“What were you doing there? Were you waiting for me?”

“Well,” Peggy shrugged, “You have had a habit of scurrying away into your bedroom like a scared little mouse without as much as a hello as of late.”

Angie felt herself blush. She supposed she had been rather obvious to the very observant secret agent she lived with. But she had only done so whenever she thought Stark was around – unfortunately, that had happened quite more often than she had wanted in the last weeks.

“I’m not running anywhere now,” said Angie, raising her chin with a false defiance and taking off her coat, “so what did you want to see me for?”

“I wanted to tell you about the _treasures_ -”

Angie almost dropped her coat.

“- of imagination that Howard has put in place -”

The coat actually dropped and Angie scrambled to pick it up and hang it safely next to Peggy’s.

“- in our latest endeavors.”

“R-really?” Angie squeaked.

How could she call herself a great actress when she so obviously panicked at the mention of a few select words?

“No, not really, that’s confidential. I just wanted to see how you’d react.”

Angie sighed and her shoulders slumped. Count on Peggy to know exactly what was going on with her. She was an amazing detective.

“What’s the conclusion to your observations then?” she tried to feign detachment from the whole thing.

She started towards the closest liquor cabinet – as there was almost one in every room, she just had to go inside the first room on her right, in the living room. Peggy followed her.

“I didn’t hear wrong, and the dictionary was right. You called him _tesoro_.”

It was Angie’s turn to shrug.

“Well, what does it matter?”

She crouched down to reach the liquor cabinet’s door and took the bottle of whiskey inside.

“I think you might be trying to hide that you return his feelings.”

Angie had a startled laugh and almost let the two glasses in her hands fall.

“His feelings? Howard doesn’t have feelings – for me, I mean.”

The actress started pouring the whiskey, trying her best not to let the small tremble in her hands make her spill the content of the bottle outside the two glasses.

“I’m not so sure about that.”

Angie’s heart moved with a little jolt of hope, and she chastised it immediately. That was cruel of Peggy to say, and for her to try to get the ex-waitress to believe that Howard was genuine.

“And,” Peggy added, “I didn’t hear you deny your own feelings.”

Angie stared obstinately at the two drinks, until Peggy grabbed them for beneath her eyes, taking one for herself and handing her the other.

“It was just a little slip -” Angie started to protest, but then decide to attack right back, “- and whatever happened to your ‘stay away from him, he’s no good’ attitude?”

Angie took her drink, a little more forcefully than she had anticipated, and spilled a few drops on her hand.

When she had had her slip, she had realized that she had meant it, and that had scared her. If she meant it, then it made everything complicated.

“I changed my mind,” Peggy explained, still as calm as ever. “I think you would be good for him. And I think he could make you happy. You smile more when he’s in the room.”

“That’s because he’s so ridiculous that I try not to laugh at him,” Angie protested. “And I always smile!”

“Lately, not so much. You work a lot.”

“I love my work.”

“And I love mine. But sometimes it’s not easy.”

Angie glared at the content of her drink gloomily. Sometimes work _was_ difficult… She didn’t always feel very valued, and while she didn’t approve of every creative decision, in the end, her input was only measured by the willingness of the directors to listen to her.

She didn’t feel really listened to.

“Look, Angie, I’m not telling you to jump into bed with Howard. But, maybe, consider not running away whenever you see him?”

Angie nodded. Peggy was right. It wasn’t like her to flee confrontation.

Feelings were scary, but how could she possibly know what could happen if she never faced the object of them?


	4. The Happy Ending

“English, I’m home!” Angie yelled out as she entered the manor.

She shrugged her coat off and gave it a few pats to get rid of some residual snow. She had received a huge lump of it on her head on the way home; it had fallen from a tree. Temperature were tender today, but the snow that had fallen during the night was still white and crisp.

“We’re in the living room!” Peggy’s voice called back to her.

_We?_

Angie glanced at the coat hanger. There were already two of them.

A small sense of trepidation halted her movements, but she then purposefully hung her own coat next to theirs, before marching to the living room.

As expected, Peggy and Howard were there, sharing a whiskey like Peggy and Angie had been the day before.

“I don’t mean to interrupt -” began Angie.

“Absolutely not,” Peggy smiled to her. “In fact, I was on my way out, I forgot something upstairs.”

_Liar_, Angie thought as Peggy brushed past her, leaving the two of them alone.

Howard acted tamer than usual – he hadn’t greeted her yet, taking the time to observe her, maybe to decipher her mood.

He was elegant, she noticed, not for the first time, in his three piece suit. And did his eyes always look so deep?

“Hi, Howard,” Angie said in a somewhat tilted voice.

“Hi, Angie.”

She felt a small pang at not hearing the nickname he always used.

“So, how are you doing lately?”

Why did every word out of her mouth feel so forced? Like repeated pleasantries you used when you didn’t want to look impolite, yet did not really care about the person you talked to.

All of her limbs felt heavy though, and her brain seemed locked in a fog.

“Fine, I’m doing fine. You?”

Oh no, her awkward was affecting him too! Damn it, she had to say something to indicate that she wasn’t some sort of mechanical puppet who had only learned to talk the day before.

“I was wondering – if you would like – if you would like to have dinner with me?” she bravely articulated.

Then, afraid she still wasn’t clear, she added:

“As a date. If you want.”

If at first he seemed stunned, a wide grin rapidly took place on his face.

“Really?”

“Really.”

“I would love to, Angel. How soon would fit your schedule? Is now good?”

Angie couldn’t help but laugh.

“Now is perfect, _tesoro_.”


End file.
